While plastic has been used to create a vast number of consumer products, the material’s potential uses expand far beyond children’s toys or storage containers. Today, industry experts rely on plastics to create everything from automotive parts to synthetic human body parts.
Creating products like these necessitates the utmost care and precision. Plastic molding ensures optimal performance when manufacturers begin fabricating these critical components.
Specifications, requirements, and restrictions vary between industries and applications. For this reason, there are a number of plastic molding options available, each with their own benefits and features. An application’s particular specifications often determine which type of molding process is best for a certain product. In this article, we’ll focus on injection molding and compression molding. We highlight some of the other types of molding in “Plastic Molding 101: Understanding the Types”
During fabrication, melted plastic is injected into a stainless steel mold to take on the required shape. The mold is outfitted with various customized cavities to form the product.
When the melted plastic has been injected, the material begins filling out the cavities and the rest of the mold. The products are left to cool and are later ejected by pins.
Other benefits of injection molding include:
Because of its versatility, injection molding is regularly used for a variety of applications. Everything from automotive parts to small, intricate pieces of surgical equipment can benefit from the process. Some other examples of applications involve:
The compression molding process involves heating a mold and placing plastic inside. After that, the mold is closed to heat and compress the plastic into the desired shape. The heating process—also known as curing—ensures the final product maintains integrity and shape. Once cooled, products are removed from their molds.
Like injection molding, compression molding is considered to be cost-effective and highly efficient. The process is simple and, compared to other production techniques, is often an inexpensive way to create components. Compression molding is also quite versatile and used to create products of varying intricacies, lengths, and thicknesses.
Since the process often employs high-strength materials, many products created via compression molding are more sturdy and resilient than those manufactured using other molding processes. It produces minimal waste, making it better for the environment and for customers’ budgets.
Compression molding is ideal for manufacturing stronger, more durable parts. Today, the process is often central to the creation of automotive and appliance parts. Other applications include:
If you’re interested in learning more about various plastic injection molding processes, check out our eBook, Plastic Injection Molding 101. We explain the details behind selecting resin materials, the price of manufacturing molds, and different varieties of plastic molding methodologies.
For more information or to get started on a project, contact a member of our team today.